Selectmen did not vote on a budget decision. But after a meeting Town Administrator Dennis Luttrell and Lebeau had with Ferreira and his captains on Tuesday, they agreed approximately $200,000, or about 8 percent, could be cut from the police budget.

Both Ferreira, who’s retiring in two months, and Lebeau said the assumption is the budgeted police department would have 30 members.

That’s two below the number budgeted for this year, but with recent retirements and lost personnel, along with retirements of two lieutenants by January, it’s been a 28-person force for some time.

Ferreira had submitted a police budget reduction of $170,000 (6.4 percent), which he said could be accomplished by eliminating one of the two captains positions and appointing a new chief from within the department.

Stephen Moniz and Glenn Neto, the two captains, both said they would apply for Ferreira’s job.

The Board of Selectmen, however, has opened the search beyond the Somerset Police Department. They are accepting applications through April 18 and are in the process of setting up a screening committee to review applications and conduct preliminary interviews.

A week ago, Luttrell, stating he was following selectmen’s directive, submitted a police budget that chopped another $78,000 from Ferreira’s total. The nearly 10 percent cut set off a confrontation between the chief and selectmen Chairman Donald Setters.

“I think it’s horrible putting it on the back of police officers,” Ferreira shouted at one point.

Lebeau at that selectmen’s meeting emphasized the magnitude of revenue loss facing the town.

Ferreira countered that no other department is reducing its budget by the level he’s proposed.

According to Ferreira, the proposed $200,000 cut would decrease his budget to $2,279,256. He said he could accept that.

Lebeau said the meeting helped identify areas that could not be cut and how to generate savings when newer officers fill vacancies.

“The chief was under the impression there were no lieutenants in the budget. That is not true,” Lebeau said.

Two reserve officers chosen by selectmen to become full-time officers are scheduled to attend the police academy for training in September. They are working as officers at 80 percent of salary during their first year of probation and accompany regular officers on police calls.

While there are different budgetary assumptions that can’t be known until the next police chief is chosen, Lebeau said he believes selectmen want that chief to decide the force’s organizational chart. He and Setters have been calling for a reorganization — and probable reduction in the 32-person police force — for several months.

In another move toward compromise, Ferreira successfully petitioned the board to allow a reserve officer not selected to attend the police academy on the town’s dime to go at his own expense.

It’s the first time in decades a potential officer’s volunteered to pay, Ferreira said.

That reserve officer, who’s undergone 300 hours of training and is paid $10 an hour, would also be able to bolster the ranks now by riding with regular officers and perform other police functions, Ferreira said.

Lebeau said he’d hoped months ago such arrangements could be implemented, and the board gave its consensus without a vote.

Luttrell said such arrangements were made in other communities he’s worked.